Is it too late
by Dhrubowiz
Summary: AU! Young Naruto get's 'adopted' by Mrs Haruno, thus begins his new life. Making friends along the way. But sometimes things can be a lot more different than how it looks. People's intention can be a lot more darker than it seem. He will learn it the hard way which will make him question his loyalty to people he thought were his family and friends. NaruIno vs NaruSaku. Explosion!
1. Chapter 1

**Is it too Late?**

Eight years old Naruto Uzumaki, walked slowly through the silent night of Konoha. He was looking down sadly, as he kicked pebbles on the street every now and then.

Yesterday he was kicked from the orphanage, so now he had nowhere to go. He thought of going to see the Hokage and ask for money so he could rent a new house, but decided against it. Why? He didn't know. He just didn't feel like mentioning his problems to others. He had grown up alone all his life, regardless how short it was. He dealt with his problems on his own.

He soon stopped as he walked by the 'Ramen Shop'. His most favourite food. Not that he had anything else to know the difference since every other shop would never sell food to him, or ask for a fortune for a pack of milk.

He sighed after pulling the garments of his pocket. He had no money with him.

The shop owner noticed the boy and could see he didn't have money, judging by him walking away after stopping. He never walked away without at least having a bowl of Ramen before.

"Dad, shall we close for tonight?" Ayame asked her father as she finished washing all the dishes for the night. She noticed him staring at someone so she followed his eyes. Her eyes softened seeing the small boy hesitating between going away or approach the shop.

"Shall I call him?" Ayame asked.

"No." Her father who was the shop owner shook his head. "He doesn't like to take free food. You will just make him feel worse."

"But…" Ayame saddened seeing him already gone.

"I don't know what the damn Hokage is doing. Leaving the Fourth's son in the streets like this… it's pathetic." The man greeted his teeth in frustration.

"Maybe h-he has his reasons." She tried to reason, but was unsure herself.

"Heh!" Her dad groaned and walked back inside the kitchen.

Ayame didn't comment on that and just sighed. 'Hope things get better for you Naruto-kun.'

 **(Scene Change)**

"Shu shu…" Naruto picked up a small rock from the ground and threw at the small cat sitting under the Street Lamp. The cat seemed unfazed as the small rock hitting her face felt like a small bug sitting on.

"Meow?" The cat tilted her head, looking at Naruto in confusion. Naruto frowned and sat beside her.

"I was planning to sleep here tonight." Naruto spoke with a frown. He didn't expect the cat to understand him but to his surprise, the cat snuggled against his feet before walking a few feet away from him, and curling up like a ball, ready to sleep.

Naruto looked at the cat and sighed. "Guess you don't have any family either." Soon after his stomach growled. His shoulders slumped lightly as he used his hand to touch his stomach.

'Guess I am starving…' He stretched his arms before faking a yawn as he lied down, trying to sleep and forget about hunger.

He looked up at the stars and used his fingers to connect them and draw mental pictures.

His stomach growled again as he twitched in annoyance.

"Meow…"

Naruto turned his head on the side and saw the cat staring at him, a small fish bone on her mouth.

Naruto raised his eyebrows as the cat left the bone beside him and purred as it snuggled against his ears and went back to sleep.

…

'I am not a cat you know?' Naruto thought but smiled as he saw the cat slowly drift into sleep.

He looked at the fish bone and licked it, feeling obliged to at least taste it and not break the poor cat's heart. Not that the cat cared. It was just a cat after all.

His ears soon twitched as he picked up a noise.

*sniff... sniff…*

"Who's crying this late in the forest?" He wondered out loud.

He tried to go back to sleep but the crying intensified causing him to snarl. Sometimes having sensitive hearing wasn't good.

He jumped on his feet and made his way towards the forest. Before leaving he made sure to bid farewell to the cat.

"See ya later cat, maybe I will come back here again." He waved his hand lightly and received a small 'meow' from the cat, despite her being asleep.

He smiled as he made his way towards the forest.

 **(Scene Change)**

Naruto dodge a few laid down tree trunks, and bushes as he followed the source of the noise. He sniffed as he picked up the smell of a particular wildflower.

Getting past a final bush, he could see who was actually crying. It was a girl that looked to be his height. She was sitting down, her head resting on her knees as she used her arms to hold her knees together.

Naruto walked towards the girl a few more steps, which alerted the girl, hearing his footsteps against the dead leafs on the ground.

She gasped as a sense of panic seized over her face.

Naruto shook his head, trying to calm her down as he showed his empty hands. She slightly stiffened and stood up before glaring at him.

"W-Who are you?!"

Naruto had a better look at her this time. She had short platinum blonde hair worn in a ponytail with few strands of hair sticking out on her ride side of her face.

She was wearing a pink dress which he could see despite not having much light to illuminate her presence.

"I am N-Nar-." He didn't mean to stutter but somehow it came out due to nervousness. He didn't meet many people so it was something new to him.

"What do you want?!" She growled, still sobbing lightly, but she did her best to no show her tears. She quickly wiped her tears and glared at him again.

Naruto took a step back and looked down sadly. "I am sorry. I just heard you crying so I came to check you… I will go back."

He turned around and was about to leave but could feel a tuck on the edge of his shirt.

"I-I am lost… take me to my papa…" She sniffed lightly, pulling the edge of his shirt tightly with her fingers. She averted her eyes from his once he looked at her due to embarrassment.

'Get lost you demon brat!' The memories of people's hate speech resonated on his head and he winced. He can't take her to her house without him getting yelled. He turned around again to decline but seeing her whimper and hiccup, he decided against it.

…

"Fine, show me the way."

The girl looked up and glared. "I told you I am lost!"

…

"Oh right… at least do you know where you live? Like any signs? Shops nearby?"

The girl looked down thoughtfully before widening her eyes slightly as she got a clue.

"It's beside the flower shop!"

Naruto nodded, already having a clue which flower shop it was, noticing her blonde hair matching a flower shop's owner, he figured out she was her daughter.

"Got it, let's go."

 **(Scene Change)**

Sasuke and her sister was walking towards their house after a late night training session. The Uchiha siblings noticed Naruto and another girl walking past them. Sasuke didn't pay much attention, but his sister halted which caused him to stop too.

"What's wrong Shana?"

The younger Uchiha shook her head. "It's nothing. I just saw Ino… with another boy. What they doing this late?"

"Who cares, probably coming back from playing house and dolls." Sasuke huffed and crossed his arms.

"What's 'house and dolls?'" Shana asked with a flat face.

Sasuke lightly blushed with embarrassment. "Some girly game, who cares! Let's go."

She rolled her eyes and just followed him.

"You need to get better at dodging." Sasuke commented.

"You need to get better at hiding." She spat back.

…

…

"Hmp."

 **(Scene Change)**

Once Naruto and the girl arrived at the flower shop, she immediately ran up to a woman who looked like an adult version of her.

Naruto smiled seeing the younger girl crying on her mother's arms, holding her dearly.

'Mother… huh…' He saddened but still kept the smile present on his face.

 **(Scene Change)**

"Ino where did you run off to this late?" The girl's mother asked after Ino calmed down, and was just hiccupping lightly.

"I-I was following this purple butterfly, and before I knew, I was lost!" She complained.

"Oh, next time don't do it okay?" Her mother patted her daughter which caused her to smile lightly.

"I won't!" She smiled before realizing she hadn't thanked the boy who helped her find her way back.  
"Oh!" She turned around swiftly, but was met with emptiness. There was no one standing behind anymore.

"Where did he go?" Ino wondered and walked where he was standing, and tried to look left and right, to see if he was there.

"Who are you looking for?" Her mother asked, seeing her daughter acting strangely.

"The boy who brought me here. He was just here a minute ago!" Ino explained.

"Oh… maybe he left. What's his name?"

…

Ino frowned as she remembered she interrupted him before he could tell his name.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

 **(Scene Change)**

The chirps of the birds reached his ears. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and was met with a bright ray of sunlight. Rubbing his eyes, he sat down.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes. Looking on his left front, he didn't find the cat from last night. He sighed.

'Looks like the cat left.' He stretched his arms again.

*Growl*

…

He looked up with a huff. "I am not hungry."

*Growl.*

…..

He let out a sigh in defeat. 'Where do I find something to eat L'

He wondered across the streets, not having any plan. He did think about stealing, but he remembered all the tortures he endured for past three years from random ninjas even when he didn't do anything. He didn't want to know what they would do if they caught him stealing.

"What do I do!" He let out a loud groan as he pulled his hair. He was slowly getting a headache from dehydration and hunger.

"You look like something is bothering you, need help young boy?"

Naruto froze on his steps, hearing a feminine voice really close to his ears. It almost felt chilling to his bones.

He quickly turned around, and saw the road behind was empty.

He shook his head with a frown. 'I am even hearing stuff now…'

He continued walking aimlessly. He walked past many shops, selling food, jewelleries, clothes, etc. Some didn't notice him, but other shop owners glared at him like he was some kind of dart. He frowned and looked down sadly, not meeting their eyes.

"Look it's the cursed boy."

"Oh you are right… what's with his left side having a burnt spot?"

"Didn't you know? The demon possesses his left side!"

The two women stopped as Naruto stopped in front of them. His fist bawled tightly in anger.

"I am no demon okay?! Why do you say all the means stuff to me?! What's even a demon!" He yelled with anger. The sadness on his voice was evidently a mixed feeling. For an eight years old orphan, this was definitely not normal. But he endured it so far. A little outburst is the least reaction to be expected.

The two women looked at him angrily before going back to their shopping.

'The whispers… they won't stop…' He closed his eyes tightly as fresh tears fought to exit. He ran as fast as he could, away from them… away from everyone.

"Why are they all like this!" He yelled, while he ran past few Ninjas returning from their duty.

"Hey kid watch out!" One of them snarled as he smashed his way through them.

"Shut up!" He yelled, still running as fast as he could, drops of tears flowing out from the corner of his eyes.

'Everyone… every single one!' He growled mentally as his speed increased.

Soon after, small smoke could be seen coming out from his left side.

'They are all mean to me!' His anger increased, which caused his left side to heat up. You could physically see the redness on top of his already burnt effect on his body.

"You are all mean!" He let out a growl as he came to a halt. This final push caused his left side to be engulfed in what looked like fire.

The flame kept on dancing mindlessly as he stopped. The air surrounding him began to heat up.

He widened his eyes, sensing something wasn't right.

He looked at his left hand, which was now surrounded in a raging intrusion of fire.

He gulped seeing his left side completely 'caught' on fire.

"Wh-what is this! I am on fire!" He panicked as he tried to shake his hand, trying to free himself off the fire.

"I-It won't stop!" He then shook his leg to stop the fire on the leg, but to no avail.

After trying a few more seconds, he noticed he wasn't actually feeling the heat.

"What is wrong with me…" He calmed down, watching the fire raging like a wild animal, surrounding his left portion of the body.

 _"_ _Look it's the cursed boy."_ The voice of the women from earlier resonated in his mind as he began to doubt himself.

"M-Maybe I am cursed after a-all." Soon after he said that, the fire seized and everything went back to normal.

"Huh?" He wondered seeing only the remaining heat evident on his body as smokes went off his body slowly.

He rubbed his eyes and kept staring at his left hand. Everything was back to normal.

There was a brief silence before he looked down, his hair casting a shadow on his face.

'Maybe I am just a … d-demon as the mean lady said…' He clutched his palm angrily. 'How do I stop this… how do I not become a demon?' His shoulders shook as he slowly began to sob which soon turned into a stream of tears cascading down his face.

"You are not a demon."

He snapped out hearing the same feminine voice again. He turned around quickly and was met with the same outcome. No one was there.

"W-Who are you?!" He yelled out. "W-Why won't you show yourself?!"

…

The noise of the wind ruffling the leafs could be heard, but no sign of the voice.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. "Fine don't show yourself! I bet you hate me too!" He growled and waited for any response. Not getting any, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Fine then! I don't like you either! I h-hate you! I hate you all!" His voice echoed as he realized where he was standing. It was at the deepest end of the forest that was closed for any civilian. He didn't notice that however.

It began to rain soon after. The thunderclaps began to get louder as the wind intensified each passing second.

Naruto panicked, sensing he was in an unknown area. He had never come here before.

'H-How do I go back?' He slowly took few steps back, until stumbling against a tree and tripping in the process.

"Geez!" He rubbed his nose as he sat down.

*Growl…*

…

"I am hungry…" He hissed as he felt a sharp pain on his stomach.

He soon felt like everything went blank as he fell unconscious on the ground, rain dripping on his body as he laid.

 **(Scene Change-Three Days Later)**

Life was normal for little Sakura Haruno. She used to play with her dolls, while her mother would be out doing groceries or on work. She didn't have any friends, except Ino Yamanaka.

All she ever knew about life and her family and friends, were her mother and Ino. That however changed when her mother brought a boy, wrapped in a cloth, soaking like a sponge from head to toe.

She had said she found him on the forest while she was coming back from a job. She didn't know how to react to that. She just nodded as her mother took care of him for the past three days.

Presently Sakura was sitting beside the boy. She noticed his had some odd marking on his cheeks. Almost like cat whiskers. Then her eyes fell on the left side of his face. It was burnt most probably as it had a light redness to it. Same with his left palm that was resting on his chest as the boy slowly breathed in and out.

Sakura smiled as an idea popped on her head. She smiled again and got close to the boy and slowly poked his cheeks with her fingers.

She laughed happily from her little prank. Hoping no one saw, she was going for round two, but stopped as the boy's eyes slowly began to open.

 **(Scene Change)**

"Naruto-kun…. Naruto-kun…. Naru-" Naruto slowly opened his eyes, as the same feminine voice slowly drifted away from him. He could see the imagery of what looked like pink.

"Candy…" He whispered soundly.

"Candy?" Sakura questioned.

"Candy… huh?" Naruto snapped open his eyes, seeing the girl clearly, who was staring at him. He jumped up from the bed as he sat down, only to feel a sharp pain on his head.

"Ouch…" He groaned as he fell back on the bed.

"Y-You startled me!" Sakura complained, who jumped back from his sudden outburst.

Naruto stiffened from her rise in tone. "I am s-sorry." He apologised. "I will go away." He tried to sit down, but this time he was pushed back on the bed by a pair of small hands that belonged to Sakura.

"No way kitty! Mom said to look after you!" She glared at him. Naruto was at loss of words. He tried to say something, but none came except. "I-I am sorry."

"You know… you say that quite a lot!"

…

"I am.. s-so-" This time he stopped, seeing the intense glare that she was giving him. But he felt somewhat different. This glare wasn't like the ones he gets from everyone. He didn't know the difference, but he didn't feel scared of her. It almost felt… good?

"Hmp. Stay in bed. Do you want to eat candy?" Sakura inquired.

Naruto shook his head.

"Then why did you say 'candy'." Sakura answered, mimicking the 'candy' part like his tone, which was low and groggy.

"I thought… I… thought you were candy." Naruto replied nervously, a feint tint of blush brushing his cheeks.

"Huh?" She didn't quite process what he said at first, but when she did, she was furious. "You! You thought I was candy?!"

Naruto stiffened again, but like before, he didn't feel scared of her, so he calmed down and nodded, which caused her mouth to open into an 'o' shape in disbelief.

"H-how could you! Take that back kitty!" She whined as she threw some imaginary punches on the air.

Naruto grew impatient of hearing the 'kitty' and slowly but carefully spoke up. "I am not… kitty."

Sakura pouted. "Well I am not candy either!" She huffed, crossing her arms.

"I am sorry…"

She glared again which caused him to give a nervous laugh. She gave up with a sigh. "You are weird…"

 **(Scene Change- One Week Later)**

"Naruto, what's taking you so long? I told you we were going to meet a friend today!" Sakura huffed with annoyance.

"I was just getting ready, geez." Naruto walked down the stairs with a frown.

"Don't talk to your elder sister in that tone!"

…

"Since when did you become my 'elder sister?'" Naruto enquired, raising an eyebrow.

"W-Well, since I came here first, so I am the elder sister and you are my little brother." She reasoned happily. Naruto just looked at her flatly.

"You know I am eight and you are like seven?"

Sakura almost stumbled from the revelation. "W-Well that doesn't matter! You are still younger brother! Now let's go." She pushed him outside the door, as she followed behind. Naruto was annoyed by her calling the younger brother, but he was somewhat pleased as a smile crept on his face.

'Family huh…'

 ** _Flashback_**

 _"_ _So where do you live Naruto?" Mrs Haruno asked the boy after he recovered. Naruto looked down sadly as he had momentarily forgotten about everything this past week, being in care of Mrs Haruno and Sakura._

 _"_ _N-Nowhere." He stiffened slightly, realising his time here may have come to an end, and he would go back to the streets like before._

 _"_ _Well then… how would you like to live with us?"_

 _…_

 _:O_

 **(End of Flashback)**

"Naruto… Naruto!"

He zoned out from his thought as he looked at Sakura, who was glaring at him.

"What?"

"Gosh you are such a kid. Stop zoning out, look I told you we were meeting a friend? Here she is!" Sakura pointed towards a blonde girl as Sakura stepped aside.

Naruto looked up at her and she looked quite familiar.

"You!" The platinum haired girl yelled as she remembered him from back in the forest.

"Uh… have we met before?" He asked, unsurely.

"Well of course we met genius! Why would you run away last time?" She asked, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Naruto processed the information briefly before realising who she was. He didn't see her face properly at night, but now he remembered her.

Naruto slightly felt heat rise on his cheeks, without having any clue. He nodded. "I-I see. Sorry, I didn't know what to say so… I left."

Sakura looked back and forth between Ino and Naruto, not having a clue in the world.

"Well sorry accepted!" Ino replied, with a toothy grin. "What's your name?"

"Umm… Naruto Uzumaki…" He hesitated slightly before continuing. "A..And yours?"

"Hehe." She laughed. "Ino Yamanaka! Nice to meet you Foxy!"

…

Sakura burst out laughing seeing Naruto's face make a complete 360 as he looked at her blankly.

"First Kitty… now Foxy… I am not an animal damn it!"

Ino tilted her head in confusion. So Sakura went to her and whispered something to her ears which caused her to burst out laughing.

Naruto's face reddened with embarrassment, seeing the two girls laughing at him historically.

Ino had her hand on her stomach as she laughed, while Sakura just laughed, leaving her hands loose on either sides.

"Ahh! You are both jerks!"

 **(Scene Change)**

"How do you know him Sakura? I didn't know you had a boyfriend?" Ino asked with a sly smile. She was seven years old, but she at least knew the difference between opposite gender and marriage and the sort.

"He isn't my boyfriend. He is my new brother." Sakura replied proudly.

Naruto was standing facing back towards them, still mad at the name callings from earlier. They had come to Ino's garden where they were apparently meant to play a game.

"No he is not." Ino deadpanned. "He looks nothing like you or your mama." She then pointed towards her hair, implying the hair colour.

"I am telling you he is my brother!"

"No he is not!"

"He is!"

"Is not!

"Is!"

"Not!"

"Not!"

"Is! Wait not wait is… ugh!"

"Gehe! My win." Sakura grinned causing Ino to pout as she crossed her arms. "F-Fine, you got me this time."

"Baka." Naruto commented which caused Sakura to laugh since it was directed towards Ino.

"Na-ru-to!" Ino flared which sent chills down his spines. He tried to wave his hand and say sorry but it was too late.

"Ouch! That hurts!" Naruto held his head as she punched him. "Just kidding, what a girly punch."

"Why you!"

 **(Scene Change)**

Ino cleared her voice and stood few steps away from Naruto and Sakura as she began to explain the game.

"Okay Sakura, you will be the evil… maid!"

"Why?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Because I said so! It's my game after all!"

Sakura nodded and pumped her fist curled up. "Okay! I will be the evil maid!"

…

Naruto didn't comment on how easy it was to manipulate Sakura and just shrugged.

Ino then pointed her fingers towards Naruto. "You will be the Prince!"

He nodded. 'At least she didn't tell me to be her maid."

"Good!"

"So who is the princess?" Sakura asked.

Ino laughed nervously and scratched her nose. "W-Who else, me of course."

She expected Sakura to be angry and want to be the princess, but Sakura just nodded and smiled. "Okay!"

'Baka!' Ino inwardly laughed.

"A-Anyways. You will come and save me, the princess." Ino pointed her thumb towards her proudly.

"Save from what?" Naruto asked.

"Of course the evil maid! She is… um… she locks the door and only opens while giving food and doesn't let me out! So you save me from this evil maid!" Ino pointed towards Sakura which caused her to frown, finally realizing her role wasn't the best.

"Well sounds easy, so how am I supposed to save you?" Naruto inquired.

"Well to save the princess, you have to find ten red flowers from the garden and bring it to me. Then you will throw it towards Sakura, which will cause her to die! And then you will rescue me!"

"Hey! I don't like this role anymore!" Sakura complained.

"Well too late forehead, deal with it!"

"Not fair!" Sakura whined.

"A-Anyways! What you waiting for? Start searching!"

 **(Scene Change- Five Minutes later)**

Naruto did as the game said, brought the flowers and threw it at Sakura, who was frowning the whole time.

"So do I win?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura! You supposed to play dead!" Ino whispered from her hiding place.

Sakura rolled her eyes and then dramatically fell down on the grass. "Oh no! I am poisoned! Ahhhh! Dead…" She snarled the last part as she fell.

Naruto stared at her blankly, not having a clue what in the world got into her. 'What's wrong with these weird people.'

On que, Ino popped out of her hiding place and did her drama queen entrance. "Oh my hero!" She hugged him catching him off-guard.

She let him go and swiftly kissed him on the cheeks.

Naruto was surprised as he whipped the spot where she kissed and could feel slight moisture. Unwillingly he blushed.

"Why did you do that for?" He asked with a frown.

"Well the princess is supposed to do that when the prince saves her. Didn't you read in the books?"

Naruto looked down sadly as he shook his head. "I-I never read a book before."

"Huh? Wow really? You must be dumb." Ino blurt out innocently.

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at her, not seeing the innocence behind her comment.

"Hey! Stop picking on my brother!" Sakura yelled as she sat down as was done 'playing dead'.

"He is not your brother!"

"He is!"

"Is not!

"Is!"

…

 **(Scene Change)**

Naruto was sleeping in the bed until his sister came in barging like a gorilla and began to pull the blanket off him. She began to whine and beg him to play with her. But this time he could hear a second voice, which belonged to Ino.

He groaned as he sat up, looking at them with sleepy eyes. "What?"

"Come play with us!" They said in unison causing him to sweat drop.

Naruto stared at them blankly before falling back on the bed, with the blanked swiftly covering him.

Sakura looked at her partner in crime as they both grinned.

They jumped on the bed and began to pull his arms either way.

"Come on Naruto wake up!"

"Wake up!"

"Come one~"

"Why won't you wake up~!"

"Hey! You are pulling too hard!"

"No you are forehead!"

Naruto pulled his arms which caused both the girls to collide against each other, causing their lips to collide against each other.

"Eww! You kissed me!" Ino faked a vomit which Sakura copied doing the same.

"No you kissed me!"

Soon after their arguments began. Naruto just couldn't take it anymore as he slowly walked to the toilet and brush his teeth. When he came back, they were still arguing.

"Well you didn't say 'eww' when you kissed Naruto!"

"Well that's because he is a boy! Not a girl!"

"What difference does it make!" Sakura growled.  
"A huge lot!"

 **(Scene Change-Six years later)**

 **Naruto: 14 Years old**

 **Sakura: 13 Years old.**

 **Ino: 13 years old.**

Life was good for Naruto since the day Mrs. Haruno adopted him. He had almost forgotten all the hardships he had faced in the past. But a new problem had arrived in his life. Sasuke Uchiha.

Ever since Ino and Sakura met the Uchiha kid, they began to spend less time with Naruto. Also he hated the fact that Sasuke was causing the two girls to fight more often about who gets to like who.

Naruto had developed a crush on the Yamanaka heiress for the past two years, but he didn't have the courage to say it out loud. But what completely broke his hope was when Ino said she was in 'love' with Sasuke.

He didn't know how to deal with these feelings. He didn't know whether he hated Sasuke for that. He knew he shouldn't since it's not his fault, but there was still a part of him that hated Sasuke for taking away Ino from him.

Naruto picked up a pebble as he threw it on the river. It made two bounces before disappearing in the midst of the water.

He sighed as he looked on his left. There was no more pebbles left. He had been doing it for the past three hours as he contemplated on what to do.

'Should I tell her… that I love her?' Naruto quickly shook his head. 'No I should support her… well sister loves Sasuke too… I should support her too I guess.'

"Ugh! This is so confusing!" He yelled, pulling his hairs in frustration.

"What is confusing?"

Naruto was startled from the sudden question. He turned around and could see a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair tied by ribbons of multiple colours in a small ponytail to the right side of her head, leaving rest of her hair loose. He also noticed her eyes had a different shade of brown which almost sparkled under the sunlight.

Naruto quickly shook his head and blushed in embarrassment as he was looking at her more than he should.

"Who are you?" He questioned, not meeting her eyes briefly.

"I am Lucy! I just arrived at Konoha today! I am joining the ninja academy tomorrow!" The girl declared happily as she took a seat beside him.

Naruto looked down remembering what date tomorrow was. He, Ino and Sakura was going to Join the academy tomorrow as well.

Lucy looked at him confusedly as he remained silent as if in deep thought.

"Yohello?" She waved her hand in front of him. "You listening?"

Naruto zoned out of his thought and apologized to the girl. "Oh sorry, Nice to meet you Lucy. I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I am joining the academy too!"

 **(Scene Change)**

Ino sat on the balcony of her house, dangling her feet in mid air on the edge. She was bored. Her father was out on mission, and her mother was busy running the flower shop. She had an argument with Sakura earlier, so she didn't want to go meet her so soon. 'Maybe tomorrow when things cool down.' She nodded. After a brief moment she sighed. 'I shouldn't have argued that much because of Sasuke-kun…'

She stiffed from a pair of hand covering her eyes from the back. She calmed down after hearing his voice.

"Guess who?"

"It's been six years we been friends, I know your voice Naruto." Ino giggled as he let her go with a grumble.

"Whatever."

She turned around facing him. "What's up?"

Naruto sighed. "Sakura said hello to you, and said she wasn't going to lose to you."

"Well then tell forehead that I won't lose to someone as ugly as her." Ino replied with a grin. Naruto laughed lightly and a faint blush was present on his cheeks seeing her grin. She looked cute.

"I will tell her you said hello." Naruto replied with a smile.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Always playing the peacemaker"

"If I didn't you guy would kill each other over… Sasuke." His tone lowered as he said his name, which Ino caught.

"You hate him or something?" Ino inquired suspiciously.

Naruto slightly panicked. "W-Why would you ask that?"

"Hmm… I don't know. You guys don't seem to talk even when we go to their house and he seems to frown a lot when you go there too."

Naruto looked down. "S-Sorry."

"Huh? What for her?"

"For… making him not like me… that must be embarrassing for you… and-"

"Baka, what got into you? Geez." Ino punched him lightly on the head.

Naruto didn't answer that and just shook his head, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Nothing…"

Naruto quickly remembered the second reason he came here for. Next week was Ino's birthday and he was itching to give her a present. He bought a small hair clip a month back and couldn't resist anymore so he took the small box out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"What's this?" Ino asked, as she shook the box lightly.

"Uhh… it's a birthday present for you. I know it's early but in case I am not here to give it to you… I thought I would give it now." He replied shyly.

Ino gasped as a faint tint of blush appeared on her cheeks. She surprised him with a tight hug, causing him to almost faint.

"Thanks a lot foxy! I will treasure it!" Ino chirped happily.

"It's n-no problem… princess."

Ino let go of him and groaned. "Oh come on stop teasing me!" She pouted. "We haven't played that game for many years now!"

Naruto laughed. "Well that's because Sakura got fed up of 'playing dead'.

"I know right?! She was such a stupid when we were kids!"

"So were you." Naruto playfully poked her on cheeks as he turned around, ready to leave.

Ino rubbed her cheeks as she spoke. "Where are you going?"

"Training." He answered as he vanished instantly from his spot.

Ino groaned. 'This guy takes Ninja training too seriously. Thanks to Kakashi sensei.' She rolled her eyes and then looked at the box. She wanted to open it straight away, but decided to open it on her birthday.

"I wonder what Sasuke-kun will give me?" She blushed on all the possibilities. "M-Maybe a kiss?!"

…

"Kya! No way!" She lightly slapped her head. "I am going nuts."

 **The END**

 **Author's Note: Well a new story! Hope you like it. It's still going to be heavily focused on Narutoverse, but there will be a few characters from other major anime franchise, Lucy being one of them in this chapter.**

Pairing is still to be decided, but it will most likely be between NaruSaku and NaruIno with a really small possibility of something else if I change my plan later.

 **Well for now review!** And in case you didn't notice, this is an AU not a canon-ish kinda fanfic!

()()()_()()()

 **Hinata-chan: Anno… can y-you leave a review p-please?**

 **Boruto: Mom you need to calm down! Let me tell you a joke!**

 **Hinata-chan: W-What joke?**

 **Boruto: Hashirama Cells! HAHAHAAH!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Is it too late**

( **Day 1: Arrival)**

The sound of kunai clashing against each other could be heard as Naruto and Kakashi were engaged in a fierce 'training' session.

"Too slow." Kakashi spoke as he caught a Kunai that Naruto threw at his face.

"Not at all." His eyes widened, seeing Naruto vanish from his sight, leaving behind a trail of fire which soon burnt out as his left elbow crashed against Kakashi's gut.

"Hehe! My win!" Naruto smirked, only to realise it was just another shadow clone as his body puffed into smoke.

"Gosh I hate your clones!" Naruto whined.

"Well, you should learn them. It will work well with your extraordinary speed boost you get from your chakra." Kakashi explained as he spun a kunai on his fingers, approaching the blonde.

Naruto looked down on his left hand, which was engulfed with fire. He didn't like it one bit… but it made him strong and he wanted to be strong to protect his friends.

He closed his fist and concentrated which caused the flame to intensify. It made a hissing sound inside his fist, which was due to extremely high temperature. He lightly opened his palm, letting out a hot steam and some trail of fire.

"I wonder how much stronger can I make this fire… can I burn a whole city with it?" He wondered out loud.

Kakashi paled from that. "Y-You are joking right?"

"Huh? Oh you heard me." He grinned as he smashed his fist engulfed with fire against Kakashi's palm. The impact caused a hissing sound which implied the skin burns on his… clone.

"Gosh I hate your clones!"

"Anyways, why do you want to burn a city?" His sensei inquired. Naruto frowned as he deactivated his left side chakra and sighed.

"Just a thought. I would like to have powers to destroy cities with the flick of an arm." Naruto then flicked his arm, sending heat waves in that direction, which caused a slicing wave of heat to collide against a tree, cutting it in half like a hot knife through butter.

"That's dangerous, idiot." Kakashi punched him lightly on the head from behind.

"I still can't make the fire release from my body though. Closest I can do is sending heat waves… and of course the fire punches and kicks." Naruto continued, as he rubbed his head.

"Hmm, what exactly do you do to activate the fire?" Kakashi asked after a brief silence, pondering over how to help his student.

"Huh? I just… umm… try to get angry… kind of. Then try to imagine the flame around my left side, and it appears naturally after that." Naruto widened his eyes with realization. Kakashi smiled and jumped a few steps back, making a shadow clone.

"Go on, hit."

Naruto nodded as he closed his eyes. Soon after his left side was surrounded with fire intrusions.

He then pointed his finger towards Kakashi's clone as he imagined a fire laser to come out of his fingers.

..

…

…

Nothing happened.

"It's not working…" Naruto sighed.

Soon after, as expected the fire laser shot from his fingers, which could hardly be called a laser as it completely burnt a good distance in a triangular shape.

Kakashi had to jump aside just in time to avoid the area of effect.

'Phew.' He let out a fake sweat as he looked at Naruto.

The field was surrounded by smokes and the smell of burnt leafs and trees. It soon died shortly afterwards, but the heat was still evident.

Naruto was hunched over, holding his finger.

Kakashi widened his eyes, seeing his finger completely burnt and disfigured.

"Oi are you okay?" Kakashi asked with a sense of urgency.

Naruto nodded. "If a burnt finger, and probably fried bones are okay, then yeah." He replied sarcastically, but the pain was evident on his eyes as a few drops of tears forced from the corner.

"Looks like you can't control the power quite yet." Kakashi concluded.

"Too much power isn't good but… this is something..." Kakashi added, seeing the huge area in front of them, completely deleted.

'Maybe burning a whole city with a flick isn't that farfetched.' Kakashi looked towards Naruto, as his finger began to heal.

'I hope you don't go down the wrong path with those powers.'

"Ne Kakashi sensei, what if I go down the wrong path… who will stop me?" He asked with a serious tone. "Is it safe to train my powers which can be devastating?"

Sigh…

"You are overthinking, let's call it a day for now."

Naruto hesitantly nodded, seeing his finger was back to normal. He knew he wasn't normal. This healing abilities were anything but normal. Sometimes he hated his left side. Then sometimes he was scared of his left side. It was as if it wasn't him who was controlling his powers, but someone else. He was scared of losing control if that ever happened.

"Stop sulking, there are many powerful Shinobis in Konoha to stop you." Kakashi added in a joking fashion which seemed to do the trick as Naruto smiled.

"Right! I bet Sakura-chan's punches can stop me instantly." He slightly paled afterwards, visioning the severity of her punches when she was pissed.

"Your sister is quite strong I suppose?"

"Well yes, because she is my sister." Naruto responded proudly. He stood up, blowing on his sleeves to get rid of the dust before dusting his pants.

"Will see. Let's hurry now before sunset." Kakashi spoke with a sigh. 'These training sessions are tiring… and…' He looked at the training spot. It was in a mess. 'I better find a better place…'

 **(Scene Change)**

 **Shana Uchiha: Age 12**

 **Special Ability: Raikiri**

 **Bloodline: Sharingan (Not awakened yet)**

 **Hair Colour: Black with tints of redness.**

 **Bust size:** She is 12 you see? You should stop right there okay? J

Shana was the youngest sibling of Sasuke Uchiha. Despite her age, she was one of the best Ninja around. In terms of raw strength, she wasn't that strong, but what made her unique was her extraordinary speed, and her chakra control along with her genius Swordsmanship.

She used a ' **Rapier'** as her primary weapon which was quite unique for a ninja. At least that's what she was aiming to be, entering the academy tomorrow.

The Rapier is a slender, sharply pointed sword. Her particular one was made of Pure Silver, optimized for thrusting attacks. It still had cutting edges, but her special ability, which was Raikiri was mostly a thrust type combo.

Shana wore the traditional Uchiha dress, which consisted of blue tops with net-like pants and ninja sandals. She had a small pouch around her waist which hold a few Kunai, while the rapier was tied loosely on her right side.

Shana sat down near a tree, with her back leaned against it. Under the moonlight, her hair had a different glow of redness which wasn't too vibrant under the sunlight. She had a pleasant smile on her face as she stared at the stars. She loved isolation. Which seemed to be a norm in the family, since her brother was the same. Despite being siblings and living in the same house, they hardly interacted with each other. The only time they were together was when they were training.

'Training…' She sighed. "Why we even training?" She wondered out loud, a frown present on her face.

 **"** **Because life is a training."** A wolfish voice resonated on her head. She closed her eyes as the vision of a white wolf, with shining blue eyes could be seen.

'Rei?'

…

She quickly jumped up, taking out her Rapier, as she pointed towards the figure standing in front of her, holding his arms up with a horrified look on his face.

Shana narrowed his eyes, slowly taking the rapier off him, as she put it back.

"What you doing here?" She hissed.

"Uh… sorry about that. I was just walking by you, and you just suddenly jumped with that thing." He replied, pointing towards her weapon. "And pointed it at me."

…

She nodded. "I thought it was an enemy." Her voice was monotone, void of any actual emotion after her initial burst of anger.

"Enemy inside the safe zone?" He enquired, raising an eye brow.

"You can never be sure where the enemy attacks from." She crossed her arms, before letting herself fall down, back to the ground, as she leaned against the tree.

"Well you are right about that…" He trailed off.

There was an awkward silence until he let out a sigh, figuring she wasn't really the type to socialise. "Well then… See you around."

"Wait." She called out as he was ready to leave.

"Hmm?"

"You came to our house many times; you still don't recognise me?" She asked with a slight sense of agitation to her voice.

"Uh… I never said I don't know you, Shana-chan." He smiled, catching her off-guard. She quickly looked the other direction, trying her best not to show any sort of facial expression that will bring shame to her pride.

"Good…" She whispered.

He laughed lightly. "I will see you around, bye!"

….

She turned around to nod, but he was gone, leaving a burning smell on the spot he stood. She looked down and could see heat emitting from that position.

She looked down, before jumping up on her feet. 'I guess I can't let him defeat me… Naruto Uzumaki.' To naked eyes, it seemed she just vanished in thin air. But the trained ones could see her thunderous speed.

 **(Scene Change-Unknown Lab)**

Large glass tubes could be seen kept firmly inside what looked like a laboratory. The contents inside the tubes were the shades of purple-green liquid, with bubbles forming upwards from the bottom of the tube.

Two men could be seen, standing in front of one of the tubes, that had two large spiral shaped pipes attached to it, leading towards a big brain shaped species.

The pipes ends were attached to the 'brain' which was thumping every few second, as it indulged the liquid content.

"Lord Orochimaru." A man who looked on his mid twenties, spoke. He had ash-grey hair, kept down in ponytails.

"What is it Kabuto?" The other replied with a hissing noise echoing to his tone, almost imitating that of a snake. He had his back turned on, so the only noticeable features could be seen was his shoulder length hair, and a rather greyish skin tone could be seen under his sleeves.

"The cells collected from the victims passed the test. We finally got enough… ingredients." Kabuto used his finger to fix his glasses as a sense of seriousness was evident on his face. "Operation 'Brain' is close..."

Orochimaru let out a small laugh, followed by a slightly louder one which soon turned into a sinister maniac one.

Kabuto just kept his eyes on the 'Brain' in front of them.

'The age of Ninja is about to end.'

 **(Scene Change)**

Sakura flicked through the textbook with a bored expression. She looked at the clock every few minutes and sighed.

'This boring stuff… I hope I don't mess up tomorrow on the first lecture.' She thought with a shriek, the possibility of being laughed at for being 'dumb' was the worst case scenario.

'Scratch that, Sasuke-kun will be watching me… I can't mess up at any cost!' Sakura slapped her cheeks lightly with both of her palms to get back her lost consecration or rather lack of enthusiasm.

"I am home…"

She perked up, seeing Naruto enter the house. She was about to greet him, until her eyes feel on his condition. His clothes were ripped off in places. On the left side, he might as well be naked.

"You… did you fall inside the trash can?" Sakura deadpanned. Naruto grinned nervously as he scratched his hair.

"Uh… Sakura-chan, you didn't go to sleep?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's 8PM Bakaruto, in case you forgot we have dinner at 10, with mom."

Naruto quickly widened his eyes as he remembered where he was supposed to be at this time.

"I was supposed to buy groceries today!"

Sakura cringed. She was amazed how he could make the same surprised reaction every time, when he had been forgetting doing the groceries for years now.

"Just get a shower, I already bought groceries." She spoke weakly, not having the strength to yell at him.

"Thanks a lot Sakura-chan! I owe you one!" Naruto then quickly walked past her to his room.

Sakura cringed again. "The amount of times you owe me; I would be buying a house on Zone A by now with the money."

"Come on don't worry, once we graduate we will be earning fortunes from Ninja missions."

She could hear him talking from the shower which was on the second floor.

'How the hell can he hear me from so far… sometimes I wonder if he can read my mind too.' She huffed as she sat back on her study table.

'Back to boring Ninja Projectiles and…' She didn't quite understand what the hand signs actually meant. 'Teemo is stronger than Goku?' That's about right… She giggled lightly from her own joke.

'Oh well, let's finish two more pages before dinner.'

 **(Scene Change)**

"I can't believe we are late! All because of you!" Sakura whined, glaring daggers towards Naruto as they exited their house. Naruto kept on poking his ears, not giving much thought to it.

"At least look a little sorry! Geez!" She yelled. "I bet Ino-pig will be happy that I get yelled at by the teacher in front of Sasuke-kun…" She whispered, which Naruto of course picked up.

'Sigh…'

"What- wait! Nar-" She didn't have enough time to finish as Naruto picked her up on his back.

"Don't bite your tongue, here we go." His left foot began to glow, as the footing began to hiss with enough temperature before using an insane amount of force on the ground, to lift himself off.

Sakura didn't know what just happened, apart from feeling a huge amount of wind pressure briefly. She opened her eyes slowly.

"W-What just-" She widened her eyes, seeing the Academy gate in front of them.

"How…" She wondered.

"Well do you plan to get down, or shall we go like this?" Naruto joked.

She lightly blushed, seeing their position. Her legs were on either sides of him, as he used his hand behind her knees to keep her uplift from falling.

"L-Let me go." She muttered.

Naruto nodded as Sakura slowly got off from his back.

"Here you go, we are five minutes early." Naruto picked up Sakura's right hand and showed her the pink wrist watch.

'The academy is at least ten minutes running distance… we came here in an instance…' She wondered. Her eyes them fell on the garments on his left feet. It was slightly torn… rather burnt.

"Are we going or what?" Naruto asked as he walked a few steps ahead, sensing her not following him, he stopped, looking at her by tilting his head backwards. **(You know like the face tilts in SHAFT anime? You won't understand unless you know what I am trying to make you know… yes that's about right xD)**

Sakura slowly nodded as she followed him, still having a concerned look on her face. She wouldn't tell him in person, but she wished he didn't use his left side Chakra or whatever that was. She was sometimes scared when he uses that. But of course she never said that to him, in fear of upsetting him.

"Ne Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked up, finding herself looking at his feet this whole time. She forced a smile as she spoke. "Hmm?"

"I forgot to bring my Kunai pouch… can you lend me some?" He asked nervously.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "No thank you. I told you to pack everything many times!" She crossed her arms as she walked ahead of him, leaving behind a slumping Naruto.

"Come on Sakura-chan~"  
"No means no!"

"But~"

"No!"

"Bu-"

"NO!"

 **(Scene Change)**

As Naruto and Sakura entered through the Academy gate, they were promptly escorted by two Anbu who guided them towards a number of road signs, which lead them to an open field behind the Academy.

Naruto could see a bunch of students already sitting in line, facing towards the large white board that was placed against a tree.

"Heh, we going to study outside?" Naruto asked, as he casually put his arms around his head.

"Baka, didn't you know? Today is **'Evaluation'** class." Sakura answered.

"Heh? What's that?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Just as the name suggest… oh!" She quickly ran, leaving him confused.

He looked ahead and rolled his eyes. 'Sasuke…'

He could now hear the 'fangirling' noises of a bunch of annoying girls, flocked around the Uchiha, who just leaned against a tree, arms crossed with a scowl on his face.

'Can't blame him.' Naruto laughed lightly. Their eyes soon met, as Naruto forced himself to raise his arm and was about to wave, but Sasuke just looked away with what looked like a scowl.

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'What's with all these Uchiha and their stuck up attitude.' His eyes then fell on the younger Uchiha sibling. He cringed seeing her sitting furthest away from rest of the students. But to his surprise, he noticed her wearing a white face mask, which hid her face under her nose. He could almost miss her and mistake for someone else, if he didn't know her hair colour. The unique redness under the black shades, was hard to mistake.

"Hey move!" Naruto didn't have time to respond, as he was shoved aside which caused him to almost loose his balance.

He looked up, ready to yell at the person, but stopped seeing who it was. He could never mistake that Platinum Blonde hair.

Naruto frowned. 'She didn't even notice me.'

He could see her join the flock, and already beginning to argue with Sakura.

'Well what did I expect anyway…' He sighed again.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" Naruto turned around and could see a pleasant smile, which was directed towards him and him alone.

Unknowingly he smiled.

"Yo, Lucy." He spoke, his voice lower than his usual tone.

"At least you remembered my name." She giggled.

Naruto scratched his head nervously, remembering what she was implying to. Earlier she had invited him to meet her at night, so he could show her where the academy was. He was getting late for training that time, so he had promised her to pick her up at night from the same spot.

"Err… I actually went to bed straight after training… I only remembered when I woke up, and that was like super late." Naruto tried to reason, but it was obvious he was making stuff up.

"Whatever, I am not mad." She then took out a candy wrapped in in a pink shiny paper, and handed it to him.

"What's it for?" Naruto asked.

"Just because." She shrugged. "Don't you like candies?"

"Well I do…" He trailed off.

"You don't I see." She giggled again, seeing he was a terrible liar.

Naruto slightly blushed due to embarrassment from getting caught twice from lying in just a few minutes.

"So how did you find the Academy? I thought you only arrived in Konoha tomorrow?" Naruto questioned.

"Oh, my butler knew where it was, so it wasn't hard to begin with, I just wanted to come with you." She replied.

Naruto was slightly caught off-guard on the way she had said 'with you' in particular. He knew she didn't mean anything behind it, but he somehow felt his face heat up. He quickly shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, seeing him shake his head suddenly.

"Huh? Oh… n-nothing. We should be going; the class is about to start!"

"Hai! Let's go!"

 **(The End)**

 **Author's Note: Here's a quick update. Hope you liked it.**

 **Next Chapter: Evaluation**

 **Important: I am taking suggestions on who will be the Academy teacher. I plan to make few chapters on training to be a ninja instead of putting them straight on the mission thing.**

 **So the rules are simple, you can suggest any male character whether he is from Narutoverse or other anime. The teacher has to be badass, and not some clumsy crap like Iruka… No offence.**

 **Review!**

Note: Someone asked me if Naruto will be on team 10. Well… you see it's an AU fanfic… this won't be like what we saw in Naruto… so you know, nothing about Chunin exams and stuff, but there will be a tournament esc thingy, but it will most likely serve a different purpose.

In terms of teams, what I have planned so far, I don't think Naruto will be in any team, and even if he is, something will happen so it's worthless. That's enough spoiler xD Just wanted to address that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Is it too Late**

 **(Fire on Ice)**

"Mikasa Ackerman, starting today I will be your homeroom teacher for the first year."

Gasps could be heard throughout the field seeing their sensei in the form of an extremely beautiful girl who didn't look much older. She was fairly tall, physically fit and muscular for a girl her age with chin length black hair, matching her piercing gorgeous black orbs.

'So… pretty…' Kiba Inuzuka drooled over, his eyes not leaving her exposed belly which was toned like a model.

"A-Anno! Sensei how old are you?" A girl with knee length orange hair asked.

"I am Seventeen." Her voice was lazy and heavy. She let out a sigh as more of the trainees started to whisper among themselves.

Mikasa looked at them dully before turning around, facing the black board as she took a chalk out from her pocket before writing her details. Let's just say the 'details' were explicit enough to make even Sasuke go bit-red.

"Well, that's about everything about me." She stretched her neck lightly, making a bone pop noise. She seemed tired even this early in the morning.

"Anyways, I will start with the register now, when your name is called, please respond." She spoke as she took out the register book.

 **(Scene Change)**

"Wow… isn't sensei like super cute?" Kiba gushed, not being able to remove his eyes from her perfect frame. He was almost caught in a hypnosis.

"Shut up Kiba, she is our sensei!" Tenten, who was sitting beside him spoke with disbelief.

"Is this what people call… Jealousy?" Sai wondered out loud from behind, which soon earned a fist on his nose.

"Ouch." He slowly rubbed his nose.

"Tenten, please refrain from swinging your arms. This is an Academy and our first lesson." Shino added with his ever so monotone voice.

"Say that to him! He called me jealous!" She growled.

"Kids…"

"Shino and Tenten both turned around and could see Neiji sitting, with his arms crossed.

"What did you say!" She growled.

"Oi double Chinese buns, stop talking." Mikasa called out, earning gasps from a few of the students, while the rest burst out in laughter.

Tenten tried her best to hide her emberrasement as she slumped down on her chair, tears beginning to gather around her eyes.

Neiji saw this, and a frown perked on his face.

"You deserved it." Shino commented.

"Shut up Shino." Neiji snarled, which caught him by surprise. Tenten didn't say anything, just sniffed lightly.

"HAHAHAHA! Double Chinese buns! That was funny!"

"Shut it, random student who doesn't matter." Mikasa snarled with irritation. Already they were driving her nuts.

This caused a few to gulp and not further speak and get a nickname which most probably would not leave them till graduation. While some just rolled their eyes, thinking they were idiots.

"What a drag…" Shikamaru sighed, finding the clouds more interesting than all the fiasco. But even him couldn't handle to look at Mikasa more than a few seconds without feeling weird.

'Who wears those half jacket in a lecture…' He thought with a frown.

"*Munch Munch*- Our sensei *Munch Munch* is funny."

…

'Dude when did you start eating?"

"Kiba Inuzuka."

…

"Kiba Inuzuka!"

"Eh?! Hai!" He snapped from his trance and raised his hand which earned a look from the rest from his outburst.

Mikasa nodded, not averting her eyes from the register as she continued to call names.

…

"Lame." Ino commented.

"I know…" Sakura added.

"Is this what they call, Jealousy?" Sai spoke again which earned a glare from the duo.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Jonin teacher with deep thought. He had never heard the name Ackerman, and judging by her appearance she didn't even look from the same heritage from this village.

'Must be some nobody.' He nodded to himself. 'A nobody means I got nothing to do with her. I need The white fang's son to be a teacher!'

Shana eyed Naruto briefly after her name was called. She could see he was sitting beside a blonde girl that she had never seen before.

She slightly frowned.

'They sure get along well.' She thought, seeing them laughing every now and then in their conversation.

…

'She sure is pretty and…' Shana then looked down at her chest and blushed due to embarrassment.

'W-Well who needs them! They will just get in the way!'

Some of the students who were closer to where she was sitting, could feel a threatening aura coming from her. They just gulped and averted their eyes back to the board.

…

Lucy laughed lightly, hearing Naruto make a comment on her dress. He had said she was wearing a Princess dress and she should be saving the world from Dragons by being captive on the castle so the Prince can save her and kill the dragon.

When asked how he knew this story, he just said he grew up with two girls so their stories rubbed on him badly.

"Ne, what do you think about our sensei?" Lucy asked, nudging him lightly as he started to doze off.

"Huh? Sensei? I don't know, she seems like a nice person." Naruto replied.

"Oi whiskers, stop talking."

….

A vein popped on his head, as Lucy laughed hesitantly. He glared at her, which she didn't see. But shortly afterwards, Mikasa called his name which was perfect for his outburst.

Lucy knew it wasn't going to go right, seeing him smirk when his name was called.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hai. Right here!" He stood up, waving his hand. Mikasa looked up to him as he smirked.

"Bitch-sensei."

…

Lucy face palmed. 'He done it now…' But a small smile escaped her face non the less.

"W-What?" Mikasa stuttered, completely dropping her previous attitude and was replaced with a tone of a teenager on her first date.

The students didn't know whether to be shocked at what Naruto had just said, or the cute voice that she let out.

"Well you see, since you love nicknames. I thought I would give you one." Naruto then faked a smile. "Hope you like it. Right? Bitch-sensei~"

"Shh! You will get in trouble!" Lucy whispered as she dragged him back to his seat. Naruto reluctantly obliged and huffed.

Mikasa's face was completely red at this point as she slowly started continuing with the register, her voice breaking every now and then.

'Awkward.' Lucy thought and felt slightly bad for the older girl.

"You shouldn't have said that. See you made her upset." Lucy scolded.  
"She called me whiskers!"

"So? You do have whiskers." She giggled as Naruto gasped in disbelief.

"N-Not you too!"

 **(Scene Change)**

"For the evaluation we will be looking at different aspects of your strengths and weaknesses to determine your ability to cope up with lectures, and put you on groups based on that." Mikasa read from the long note that she had probably got from the Hokage as she read it, back to her usual self after the little incident earlier.

"You think she is okay now?" A girl whispered to her friend.

"Who knows, she seems back to normal."

"That blondie sure have balls though."

"I know… but that was disrespectful!"

Mikasa sighed hearing the two gossip girls. She didn't bother to call them and just proceeded with the note she didn't bother to memorize.

"So we will be having a few exercise today. Number 1: 200meter race. Number 2: Shooting…then there's number 3:"

Everyone sweat dropped hearing such uninterested tone from their teacher. She was having a hard time to bother with the class.

"Tch. We got a slacker as our homeroom." Sasuke snarled.

"-Throwing… number 4: endurance test… number 5: Mental stress test… and finally number 6: 1v1 brawl." She concluded with a smile. Happy to get through the boring reading.

"So sensei, how will we be marked on them?" Sakura asked, raising her hand politely.

"Hmm… I don't know."

…

Everyone sweat dropped.

"Oh! How about, the person with the lowest performance gets." She then looked straight towards Naruto, as everyone averted their eyes to the blonde too. "Gets kicked out of the academy right then and there."

"Heh? Sure bitch-sensei. Sounds like fun." Naruto replied with a smirk on his face. Mikasa let out a small smile.

"Are you sure? You seem the weakest among the class." Mikasa taunted, having a taunting smile present on her face. Naruto just shrugged.

"That we will see in the test." Naruto shot back with a shrug. Not seeming bothered one bit which made her a tad bit angry.

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked with worry.

"What? You think I will have the weakest performance? I am hurt!" Naruto faked a pained look to which she rolled her eyes.

"You don't always loose for being weak."

"You expect me to believe this twisted lie?"

 **(Scene Change)**

Mikasa stopped the watch as the next student finished the 200 meter race. '30.40s… not bad.'

"Next."

Sasuke took stood on the start line as he focussed on the finishing red line, eagerly waiting for the signal.

"Start."

As soon as Mikasa said that, a mild gust of wind blew around the track, as students standing on either side had to stop their skirts, hats, glasses, to fly off from the wind.

She stopped the watch as Sasuke crossed the line.

"… 8.63s…" She was amazed at least a bit. The rest of them gasped since no one so far even managed to stay below 20seconds but Sasuke had just went below the two figure.

"Wow Sasuke-kun is so cool!"

"I know right!"

"Kya~ He is the best."

Naruto stood on the side, leaning against a tree as he watched the Uchiha walk by Ino and Sakura, showered by praises.

Lucy averted her eyes slightly towards him, as she was standing beside him.

"He was fast." Lucy commented.

"I wouldn't mind if you fangirled. You can do so if you wish." Naruto tried to sound normal, but he could tell he was being a jerk.

He looked at her, ready to see her glaring at him, but was surprised seeing her looking at the race, a small smile on her face present at all time.

He didn't know if it was admiration of her beauty or just acceptance of her as a friend but he found himself smile as well.

"Say, would you cheer for me if I broke his record?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?" She looked at him, startled by the sudden question. "Why?"

"Just wondering, if you cheer for me. I will break his record." Naruto smiled.

Lucy laughed. "Big talk, but sure. I will be cheering for you!"

Naruto didn't reply and just started walking to the starting line as he was next after Shana.

Mikasa had her mouth open when Shana finished her race.

"5.32seconds."

This time it was the boys who were completely shocked from her performance. Within the course of few seconds, she had earned a lot of fanboys.

She didn't even bother to look at them as she walked past Naruto, who seemed completely unfazed from her performance.

"Hope you don't disgrace yourself after that score." Shana whispered.

Naruto stood on the starting line. His left leg firmly placed on the back foot as he narrowed his eyes.

"Start." Mikasa spoke, uninterested.

Naruto stood there for first two seconds, as he channelled his chakra on his left feet. Mikasa raised her eyebrows. "Didn't you hear-"

She was left baffled, and she didn't see a thing. The only thing she saw was smokes coming out from where he was standing and he was just on the end side.

"2.13 seconds…"

Everyone just stood baffled and confused. They knew something extraordinary just took place, but couldn't decipher or make out the incident. They just looked at him in shock.

Naruto coughed a bit of blood from his mouth as he tried to stop his cough with his hand, he could see the red liquid on his palm. The flame exhausted within blink, so no one could really see that part of him.

'That's weird… looks like I overdid it.' He shrugged and wiped his lips with his arm and smirked at Mikasa. "The weakest?"

Mikasa didn't get agitated by his taunt and just looked as he walked back beside Lucy.

'Isn't that…'

 _'_ _I will protect you Mikasa-chan, from them!'_

 _'_ _No! Wait-!'_

She tightened her fist, as her hair down casted on her face. "Next…"

 **(Scene Change)**

"Hmm, not bad." Lucy closed her eyes, crossing her arms under her chest. "You did well."

"What is this not-so-impressed attitude." He deadpanned causing her to giggle lightly.

"Who knows." She winked.

"48 seconds."

Both Lucy and Naruto turned towards the race and could see a platinum haired girl hunched over the finish line, gasping for air roughly.

Naruto frowned.

"She got the lowest result." Lucy spoke, taking a peek at Naruto from the corner of her eyes.

Naruto had his fist tightened as he saw Ino looking down sadly, before making her way back to her place. Their eyes met briefly. Naruto opened his mouth to call her, but she looked down and he could swear he saw tears on her eyes.

"If that continues, she might be the last." Lucy added.

Naruto shot a glare at her, but quickly averted his eyes and looked down. Lucy noticed his behaviour but didn't comment on that. She pretty much had an idea where this was going now.

'Fool.'

 **(Scene Change)**

Mikasa drew the ranking chart on the board as everyone could compare their results.

1st Naruto Uzumaki

2nd Shana Uchiha

3rd Rock Lee

4th Sasuke Uchiha

5th Neiji Hyuga

6th Kiba Inuzuka

7th Ueno Fanalise

8th Tenten

9th Sakura Haruno

10th Lucy Heartfilia

"Anyone below the 10th place… I couldn't be bother writing their names." Mikasa explained as he turned the page of her notebook.

"Next is Shooting, I would like to see your aim with kunai in the targets on the next field. Follow me."

 **(Scene Change)**

After that, the next four tests, on all of them Naruto had the lowest score. He had missed all the targets, failed miserably on the mental stress test and endurance test. On the throwing test, the ball he threw didn't even go past the normal distance that a normal civilian could cover without the use of any chakra.

At this point everyone was laughing at him, which pretty much earned the name 'Dead last' pretty quick. Some had said the first test was a fluke. But some of them knew something was wrong. Neiji, Rock Lee, Shana, Shikamaru and Lucy had a frown on their face. It was clear to them he wasn't even trying.

'Heh! Dobe.' Sasuke snarled. 'That race was a fluke.'

Naruto looked at the scores and tried to compare with the result but could understand how to calculate a…

"If you win the last round, you will make it" Lucy commented, her voice was slightly down and heavy. "The guy with the orange hat will most likely end up in the last place."

Naruto forced a smile as he looked at Lucy. "Thanks a lot."

"I don't agree with you." She spoke, her tone changed to a serious one. The smile that was on her face at all times wasn't present.

"W-What are you saying?"

"You know exactly what I am saying. I don't agree with you." She said and walked past him. Naruto just looked down and walked to the next field where the 1v1 brawl was going to take place. He had to win this one.

 **(Scene Change)**

"Naruto, what is wrong with you?!" Sakura demanded, approaching her brother. Lucy walked a few feet away from them, giving the siblings their space to talk.

"Hey Sakura-chan. What's up?" He smiled.

"Don't 'Sakura-chan' me! What was that pitiful performance? It's not like you at all!" Sakura growled.

"Oh… I-I guess the competition was tougher than I had expected." He spoke unsurely and slightly gulped when she looked at him sternly.

"You did this for Ino-pig didn't you?" She growled again but a lot more softly.

Naruto was going to deny but stopped himself. There was no point to hide from her. She would know it any way. With a heavy sigh, he nodded.

"How could-"

"She looked sad Sakura-chan. I couldn't let her end up in the last place. She was looking forward to this day for a while now." He looked down with a pained smile. "She wanted to look good in front of Sasuke… I couldn't let her be sad because of this stupid test."

Sakura didn't know what to say. She just looked down sadly as well. The two siblings parted their ways after a brief silence.

"I will see you later at home… bye." Sakura then jogged back on the other side of the field.

Naruto nodded, seeing her walk away.

"Gosh this is so annoying." Naruto wondered out loud.

"That's precisely why I don't agree with you." Lucy spoke after Sakura was gone.

"Where did you run off to?" He asked.

"I was just… never mind that. More importantly, look." She then turned his face away from her, towards the board.

"Naruto vs Lucy." He read the first line of the matchups.

"What?! Why do I have to face a girl!" Naruto yelled out loud, which earned looks from the rest.

"Shut up clown!"

"Yes keep your mouth shut! You are annoying!"

"And uncool like Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto didn't even bother with them and just looked at Lucy who was pouting at him.

"Don't be such a sexist!"

"Whatever, just don't hurt yourself." Naruto joked with a cocky tone.

"Will see about that." She huffed, in similar fashion.

 **(Scene Change)**

"The rules are the usual. Don't kill yourselves, forfeit when you want… or run out of chakra. Begin." Mikasa spoke as she read the long note but just said the gist.

Naruto and Lucy stood on either sides of the arena. Naruto stretched his arms, neck and legs, making pop sounds to loosen up.

Lucy didn't do any of that and just stood there silently, looking at the blonde with piercing eyes.

"Say… do you think 'you should go easy on me' because I am a girl?"

He looked up, feeling a sense of unfamiliarity. Her eyes were focused; her voice was not the cheery easy going anymore, instead was replaced with an icy tone which gave him chills, and a sense of warning.

He lightly gulped when she smirked, before making a complete turnaround back to her usual self, masking with the same smile that he was used to see her in.

"Begin…"

In a swift motion flick of her finger, she did something which Naruto didn't have time to process, but his natural instinct was enough to barely evade.

Naruto widened his eyes but managed to dodge the attack just in time, before landing safely a few feet away.

He looked at the ground, and could see sharp small cone shaped pillars of ice shooting up which he somehow managed to dodge.

He looked at her, seeing her right arm pointed towards him, eyeing him with a smile.

"Didn't expect you to dodge that, natural reaction?" She questioned ever so sweetly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. 'Don't joke around damn it!' He hissed seeing the sharp edges of the ice. 'That could have seriously harmed me… what's wrong with her!' He looked down thoughtfully. 'Ice attacks… didn't expect her to come up with that.'

"Where are you looking?" His mouth went agape, sensing her presence behind him. He could feel the chilling coldness from her body. Without thinking, he spun around in a matter of milliseconds, with a powerful kick without using any chakra.

On impact, her body was broken in half, making a glass shattering noise in the process.

Everyone gasped, but soon realized it wasn't her. But a rather solid perfect copy of her, made up of ice. The clone lost it's colour and movement as soon as Naruto hit it.

Naruto could see the earlier trail of ice on the ground was connected with the clone, which must have caused it to form. 'But how does she make it move.'

"I am right in front of you. Where are you looking?" Her tone was playful, almost mocking.

Naruto gritted his teeth, desperately sending a punch around, only to find no one behind him.

 **(Scene Change)**

"What's going on? Why is that baka swinging arms in mid air?" Sakura questioned.

"Who knows." Ino shrugged.

"Genjutsu…"

Both Ino and Sakura turned behind towards the younger Uchiha, who had a serious look on her face.

"She used the distraction of her ice clone to cast a genjutsu." Shana slightly narrowed her eyes in deep thought, seeing Naruto launching punches left and right, and jumping for no reason.

"He is fighting her in his mind."

 **(Scene Change)**

"What's going on… where is she!" His eyes felt heavy as he blinked, the next thing he saw was that he was standing in the middle of a Desert made of Ice.

"Say… do you still think you should take on easy because I am a girl?"

Her voice resonated around, but he couldn't quite pin point her location.

He did a reverse kick swiftly, sensing a slight change in wind near him, but the results were same.

"You should give up."

"Right Give up."  
"Give up"

"Give up."

"You right should."

"Up Give."

"Are you."

"Just because."

"Girl give up."

"Right right."

"Hehe hehe"

"Should up just"

He closed his eyes, hearing echoes of her voice multiplying ever passing second.

'This is bad… Genjutsu…. What do I do… think think…' He tightened his fist. 'How do you dispel…'

"Pain Naruto-sama..."

'Huh? That same voice… wait pain!'

He opened his eyes again and bit his lips as hard as he could, cutting it in the process as fresh blood came out.

…

'Shit… it's not working.' He quickly jumped up, barely missing an icy wind slash.

'Think what can I do…' He kept on dodging different types of 'warnings' as he tried to come up with something.

His mind then drifted back to his training session.

'Right… maybe that much pain will do the trick.' Naruto slowly pointed his forefinger towards the sky, avoiding any casualties around or hurting Lucy in the process.

" **Go! Blaze!"** He imagined a laser attack, figuring out the backlash would cause his finger to completely disfigure, which was a small price to pay at this time.

But the fire never shot.

" **Ugh! Go… Fire!"**

 **"** **Laser!"**

 **"** **Tornado!"**

 **"** **Raging Tornado!"**

"Shit!" He hissed, and in cue, it shot without any alert.

It created a huge explosion upwards, that looked like a fire tornado which soon burnt out as soon as he fell down in pain, holding his forefinger in pain as a growl could be heard from him.

…

…

"A-Are you okay?!" Naruto heard a concerned voice after a few more seconds. He looked up and could see Lucy standing, hunched over looking at him with concern.

'Ah… its broke.'

"N-Naruto-"

"G-Get back in p-position." He managed to say, trying to supress a yell from the pain. Luckily his finger healed in a matter of few seconds, as the pain slowly disappeared.

Lucy hesitated but complied and jumped a few feet back, taking her fighting stance once again.

 **(Scene Change)**

"Are you serious… what was with that huge ass fire?" Kiba commented, his mouth wide open in surprise. Till now he had thought Naruto was the weakest among them, but seeing that last move completely left him baffled and wondering.

Shana had a visible shock on her eyes as well but she didn't voice it. Sakura and Ino were speechless. Sakura had seen a glimpse of his powers before, but it was first time for Ino.

"What… was that…" Tenten murmured, completely taken back from just the cosmetics of the attack. It looked beautiful on its own way. She was sure she felt a rise in temperature briefly which soon subsided with the fire.

"Fire release." Neiji commented with his usual monotone attitude.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, anger building up, finally realising Naruto was bluffing all along on those previous tests. But he didn't know why he did that. Was he mocking them?!

Unknown to him, his anger will soon turn into shock after the conclusion of the match. From places he never imagined.

 **(Scene Change)**

"You… do you want to continue?" Mikasa asked with a slight softness to her voice than her usual attitude. Naruto coughed a few times, before standing on his feet. He felt exhausted for some reason. He didn't even go to offence and Lucy managed to completely surround him in less than a minute.

Naruto nodded. "I will continue."

Lucy looked at him with concern before letting out a sigh, a small smile escaped her lips which went unnoticed by Naruto.

"Just so you know, I won't be holding back anymore, if you want to retreat now is the-" She stopped, seeing the confident smile on his face, as he used his fingers to motion her to come.

She smiled, as flashbacks of certain events flooded her mind.

 _"_ _Heh… what's wrong with her. Showing off just because she got a bloodline."_

 _"_ _I know right? She is always smiling and trying to be friendly too! Disgusting."_

 _"_ _Why is she even in this academy? Shouldn't she already be joining her sister?"_

 _"_ _Beats me…"_

 _"_ _You can never trust Kou Empire."_

 _"_ _But she-"_

'He isn't backing off… even after seeing a glimpse of my powers.' Lucy found her face heat up, unknown to her about her feelings. But she can think about them later, finally she could let loose without being judged.

"Here I come!" Lucy yelled, swiping her arm towards him, sending a gust of spikes made of ice.

Naruto immediately dodged a good amount of them, but some scratched him in multiple places, leaving a cut sharply with them.

Lucy stomped her feet on the ground, sending a larger amount of Ice in a projection, rising from the ground. Naruto Dodge it barely.

"Ha!" He let his balance backward, which caused a punch Lucy had aimed at him, missing his chin by an inch.

'She is fast!'

Naruto could see her knuckles were sparkling with ice fragments.

He didn't have enough time to process, as she used her leg to freeze a small area around her, skidding through it she appeared behind him, putting her palm on his back.

Naruto shivered sensing the coldness on his back which was spreading quickly. He swiftly tried to use his elbow to attack her, but she ducked under, swiping her leg, and freezing the area in a circular motion, which soon caused ice spikes to rise and hit him.

He let out a yelp as one of the spikes got inside his back. Lucy then used the moment to kick him on the ribcage, sending him flying a good few distance.

"It was fun, but this ends here." She then spread her arms around, charging a lot of chakra before releasing a huge amount of Ice, which caused the ground to erupt and completely surround Naruto with it, leaving his head untouched, rendering his movement completely.

 **"** **Ice Coffin!"**

All the freezing caused the whole area to condense it's air, which made the views hazy due to the steam coming off from the ice.

He was hanging in mid-air, with ice making a shape like a fountain from the ground as it froze him.

She let out a sigh, steam coming out of her mouth. Her arms slightly shivered but she shrugged it off, realizing it was the end.

Everyone was silent as Mikasa slowly walked up and checked on Naruto's condition. He was struggling to get out but he was completely frozen.

"Give up yet?" The teacher asked.

"No!" He growled as he tried to free himself.

"Umm… you should probably give up… or you will catch a cold." Lucy tried to reason, but stiffened seeing him glare at her.

"I didn't lose yet!"

"But-"

"No!"

…

Lucy tightened her fist as she felt a sense of anger build up.

"S-Suit yourself!" She turned around, ready to leave but soon stopped, hearing his voice.

"Where do you think… you are going." His voice was heavy. She felt an unknown sense of hostility coming from him.

Then a huge explosion could be heard mixed with glass shattering noise. She didn't see the initial thing, but could see redness surrounding throughout the whole field and the insane amount of hot wind surrounding the whole arena.

Her shivering momentarily stopped, feeling the heat coming out from the back.

She slowly turned around, as her eyes widened.

In front of her stood Naruto, the ice completely molten, his left side raging with fire, while his right side almost looked lifeless, going numb from the coldness.

"I haven't still…g-given up!…"

Lucy quickly raised her palm towards him.

 **"** **Blizzard!"** She didn't finish the attack seeing him faint with his flame seizing. The last thing he could see was the hazy vision of Lucy standing right there.

'Ah… lost to a girl… oh well.' Were his last thoughts.

"Naruto!" Both Sakura and Ino rushed towards the blonde, not sparing any second. They were too indulged in the action prior to this, but seeing him collapse, dosed them back to reality.

Lucy just kept staring at him, completely shocked from what just happened. Never before had someone managed to melt her ice. It wasn't just some normal ice that a simple fire could melt. Her bloodline was a lot more 'complicated'. 

She could feel her limbs shiver, not due to coldness. She knew if this continued she would lose… no… rather if this was a real fight… she didn't stand a chance at all.

"Gosh… what's this~" She whined as she fell on her knees with a pout.  
Ino and Sakura glared at her, but she didn't pay any attention to them. She kept on looking at his sleeping face. A huge smile present on her face seeing him lightly snore.

'Wait… is he sleeping?...'

…

..

'He is…'

 **(The End)**

 **Author's Note: Here's a new chapter. Hope you liked it. Review~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Is it too Late**

Naruto opened his eyes with the sight of white blank ceiling. A place quite familiar to him. The smell of the medicine and the beeping sound from the pacemaker, it was surely the hospital.

"Ugh..." He tried to move his arm but felt a sharp pain from the sudden pull. Needles, two of them were attached to his right arm. He let out a sigh as the past events from his fight with Lucy became more vibrant to him.

'Oh right, the tournament. I was fighting her... did I lose? I guess I did... she sure was strong.'

*Growl*

...

'I am hungry...' He slowly and carefully sat down when finally, his eyes fell on the person dozing off in sleep beside him. A blush spread on his cheeks when he realized she was clutching her palm on his shirt, tightly.

'Wow... has she been here for me?' Naruto gulped when his eyes fell on her lips as she lightly snored. He looked around and seeing no one was there, he slowly advanced his hand towards her face. 'She is so pretty... she-'

What exactly are you doing?" Naruto felt like his soul had momentarily left him. He gulped as he slowly turned his head around and found none other than Lucy Heartfilia.

"I-I..."

"You know, it is cute how much you like her but, this is creepy." Lucy grinned as she closed the door behind.

"D-Do what?"

"Want me to say exactly what? I can be descriptive if you want me to." Lucy answered with a chuckle causing him to turn bit red from embarrassment. Having enough fun and to help him out of the misery, she changed the topic. "She has been here for most of the past 3 days. Your friend sure does care for you, what was her name again?"

Naruto's face heated up again from the news. 'Wait what? 3 days? I have been out for 3 days?!'

"Ino Yamanaka."

"Oh right. Your sister just left, should I call her?" Lucy asked. Naruto shook his head. "It's fine. Thanks for visiting." He smiled at her.

Lucy shook her head and sat beside him on a chair. "It's no big deal. Just came to see how you were doing. Not that I needed to come, when those two were here almost the whole day and night."

Naruto lightly blushed as he saw Ino, who was still sleeping peacefully. 'She must be tired... I am glad she came to see me though.'

"Still, thanks for visiting."

Lucy smiled. "Mention not, glad that I didn't hurt you too badly."

He chuckled from the little taunt. "You sure didn't hold back. Didn't know your element was Ice... It's quite rare... and they weren't even regular ice... it was like crystal... if I remember correctly-"

"You can praise me all you want later, but now you should rest, I will call the nurse." She stood up and faked a glare at him to stop any protest from the blonde. "Let her sleep a bit, she needs it. Don't do any funny business while I am gone."

"I wasn't doing anything!"

"Hai hai."

 **(Scene Change)**

Sakura sighed as she exited the grocery shop. She could feel the air getting colder, most likely it would rain tonight. It was cloudy and dark.

She looked at the groceries on her hand one last time, making sure she hasn't missed anything. Fully content, she began to walk back towards her house.

'I hope Naruto is doing fine... I should have stayed longer but mom needs my help... well Ino-pig is with him, so that's a relief.' As she walked by other shops and houses, she stopped after seeing a familiar face.

"Sensei? Hi, Mikasa-sensei!" She skipped hurried and greeted her. Her first impression of her wasn't the best, but after joining the Academy, Sakura was more comfortable with her among rest of the teachers. Well, mainly because she had praised her chakra control on one of the class assignments which made her look nice in front of Sasuke. That's enough reason for her to like Mikasa.

"Hmm? Oh, hi pink-haired student."

Sakura awkwardly laughed. 'Well, her nicknaming hasn't changed. I am the pink haired girl, Ino-pig is the blondie then there's dog boy Kiba, Chinese Double-bun Tenten, etc etc.'

"Hai. Where are you going Sensei?" Sakura asked politely. She wanted to be on her good side to get more praise when it matters. 'Haha! I am genius. Sakura cutie chan 1, Ugly Ino-pig 0! Chaa!'

"Well you see,"

 **(Scene Change)**

"Y-You are awake." Ino looked at him with half disbelief. A mixture of happiness and confusion. She hugged him and cried the very next moment.

"You idiot! I thought you would never wake up! Stop making me worried!"

Naruto being caught between a mixture of embarrassment and feeling of love, didn't know how to respond to such pure affection. He slowly nodded against her head where his chin rested.

"I-I am sorry, I wasn't good enough-"

"Oh, shut up." She let go off him and glared. "You were good, it's just that blonde bimbo is a freak!"

"B-blonde bimbo? Who is that?" He asked.

Before Ino could replied, Lucy was the one to speak up. "I think your friend is referring to herself."

"You! I am referring to you!" Ino growled as she stood up with hostility.

Lucy shrugged as she walked past her and stood beside Naruto. "I think you are forgetting your natural hair is blonde as well. Insulting me with that? Laughable."

"You!"

"Okay calm down both of you, can we be friends?"

"No!" Both Ino and Lucy yelled at the same time. Naruto sweat dropped inwardly with a sighed. Having Sakura and Ino argue all the time was more than enough, he didn't need Lucy into the addition.

"Why are you here anyway?! Came to check if he is alive after you used those sorcery?!" Ino growled again.

"Excuse me? I came to see my friend! Why are YOU here?" Lucy replied with equal hostility.

"Friend? Hah! Friends don't injure their friends like that!"

"I-I told him to quit but he didn't!"

"Oh yeah?! Then maybe you could quit?!"

"Why would I?!"

"Exactly! Why would you?! I thought you were his friend?!"

"Well yes I am!"  
"Then prove it!" Ino yelled.

"Well I don't need to purposely lose like Naruto to prove anything!" Lucy quickly shut her mouth. 'Oh no…'

Naruto shook his head. He didn't freak out about Ino finding it out that he purposely lost rounds so she didn't get disqualified. It was easy to trick Ino. Something he feared would someday cost her.

"W-what? What do you mean?" Ino asked, unsure.

"She means nothing Ino, can you two just stop arguing? Why are you even arguing?"

"That's because she hurt you baka! I am defending you!"

'Phew..' Naruto inwardly sighed in relief while Lucy looked annoyed.

'What does he even see in this dumb blonde loser. Peh.' Lucy turned her heels, ready to leave.

"Well see you later Naruto, my _friend._ "

"Go away!" Ino yelled.

"Tch. Loser."

"Freak."

….

 **(Scene Change)**

"Well you don't need to walk me home Naruto, you just got released from the hospital, just go home." Ino spoke as the duo walked through the silent night.

Naruto shook his head. "I feel completely fine. Besides, your house isn't to far-" He abruptly stopped, so did Ino once a melodious voice reached their ears.

Almost by impulse, they both ran towards the voice, almost being captivated like a spell bind in their mind.

Once they reached their destination, they could see the scene that was just, amazing.

A girl, wearing a white dress, with white air, the moonlight shining on her face, as the wind blew her dress, she sang with the most beautiful voice that they ever heard.

 **"** **Falling fast asleep**

 **May this little boy find blissful dreams**

 **Among the ash**

 **And the flames that light up the night sky**

 **One by one~ Falling Softly**

 **With your Silhouette**

 **Casting shadow of your lovely face**

 **I watch the sky**

 **As a million dreams are shining**

 **Little Dreams~ Little Dreamer**

 **Within the tender night your silver eyes were trembling**

 **That moment you shined pure**

 **Born anew into this world**

 **Across a million years,**

 **Time has brought us here**

 **Our prayers burn, into the earth~**

 **Back where they shall return to time**

 **I will never stop this prayer leaving my lips~**

 **Someone please show this child what love is**

 **Take those tiny hands and leave a kiss"**

She spun around, revealing her face that shone brighter than the moon. She looked mesmerising, her smile enchanting as her eyes were intoxicating.

Both Ino and Naruto found themselves blush under her stare.

"I wrote this song for you Naruto. Do you like it?" She spoke with a smile.

Naruto, taken aback looked at her and pointed his finger towards himself. "M-Me?"

She nodded and smiled.

"You know her?" Ino asked Naruto to which he quickly shook his head.

"I have never seen her in my life!"

"Ouch." The girl faked a hurt look. "After you fed me that tasty food… you forgot me." A tear fell from her eyes as she vanished in thin air.

…

"What just happened…"

Ino nodded. "You tell me."

 **Author's Note: Did you expect an update for this? :3 I doubt it, but here it is! It's short but hope you liked it!**

 **Here's a challenge. Guess 'who' the girl is? Clue: She already appeared in this fanfiction, chapter 1!**

 **Review~**


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